British Airways passengers will have to pay to choose their seats before they travel from October.
The charges will affect those seeking to ensure they sit together on a flight and people with a preference for window, aisle or emergency exit seats.
Prices range from £10 per person for European economy flights, to £60 for long haul trips in business class.
source: BBC
British Airways is understood to have joined Qantas and American Airlines in a three-strong investment consortium bidding to drag Japan Airlines (JAL) back from the brink of financial collapse.
Other offers to buy stakes in JAL are believed to have come from Korean Airlines and Air France-KLM.
The rehabilitation of JAL, which is bathed in red ink and has been allowed to operate with huge inefficiencies, poses a severe political challenge to the new administration of prime minister Yukio Hatoyama, who was only inaugurated two days ago.
source: Times Online
The drift away from premium to economy class air travel has been reconfirmed by British Airways, which has registered another month of falling sales from first- and business-class passengers.
The airline saw premium-class traffic in August fall by 11.9 per cent year-on- year although “‘non-premium'” economy-class custom edged up 1.3 per cent.
The monthly breakdown confirmed trends established this year as BA continued to grapple with a downturn in demand among business travellers.
The airline is also battling against competition from no-frills budget airlines on its less lucrative short-haul routes in Europe.
source: FT.com
German flag carrier Lufthansa has completed the takeover of rival Austrian Airlines following months of tense negotiations.
The Cologne based airline will pay around €166 million (£150 million) for private Austrian Airlines shares while also paying €350,000 for the stake presently controlled by the Austrian government.
In 2008, 10.7 million passengers flew with the Austrian Airlines Group to 120 different destinations. Austrian Airlines currently operates a fleet of 91 aircraft.
source: travelbite.co.uk
BA, which began life as Air Transport & Travel, took off on its first flight from Hounslow, west London to Le Bourget on the outskirts of Paris, on Aug 25 1919. The airline was the first to offer a daily international service.
BA in its present form was created by the merger of British Overseas Airways Corporation and British European Airways, in 1974.
Today, BA is struggling to compete with low-cost carriers such as Ryanair offering no-frills flights with fares of a few pounds and, like the rest of the airline industry, has suffered from the sharp drop-off in business and holiday travel as a result of the global downturn. BA is particularly reliant on business-class travel across the Atlantic for its profits.
source: telegraph.co.uk
American Airlines announced yesterday an expansion to its in-flight Wi-Fi to more aircrafts. The service, branded “‘GoGo'”, is now available on 100 of American’s MD-80 aircraft, with another 50 installations planned by the end of the year. The announcement coincides with GoGo’s launch anniversary – a year ago, AA was the first US airline to launch the GoGo service. Soon after, Delta Air Lines followed, along with Air Tran.
source: rethink-wireless.com
Continental Airlines said on Monday it expects to join the Star Alliance on Oct. 27, allowing it to cooperate on scheduling and prices with global carriers including United.
The Star Alliance was created in 1997 with more than 20 member airlines offering a combined 17,000 daily departures to 160 countries.
Continental said members of its frequent-flier program, OnePass, will not need to make changes to their accounts and their mileage balances will not be affected during the switch.
source: Reuters
Lufthansa is offering passengers compensation for rainy days on holiday, the latest travel company to do so.
People who book flights with them from Germany can claim 20 euro for every rainy day, for up to ten days.
The Lufthansa ‘sunshine rate’ is available until 18 August and is valid on flights departing between 1 September to 31 October to 36 destinations.
source: BBC
Baggage fee hikes continue as this British Airways announced that beginning October 7, international passengers flying economy will only be allowed one free checked bag. The previous, pretty standard way of international checked luggage was to allow each person two checked bags.
On British, economy class is called “‘World Traveller'” and “‘World Traveller Plus’,” and these are the only classes affected. Flying Club World (business) or First Class will still yield the massive allowance of three free checked bags on international flights.
source: Jaunted
Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest airline, which has already been forced to cut operations in the economic crisis, saw passenger traffic fall 6.4 percent in June, the company said.
The biggest drop came in Asia, where passenger numbers fell 10.8 percent, while traffic in Africa and the Middle East dropped just 0.2 percent. The European network saw a 6.8-percent decline in traffic.
Air France-KLM said it carried a total of 6.4 million passengers in June.
source: AFP
